Apparatus for extracting lupuline



(No Model.)

1 J, F. THEURER.

APPARATUS FOR EXTRAGTING LUPULINB.

No. 453,678. Patented June 9,1891.

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TES

PATENT OFFICE.

APPARATUS FOR 'EXTRACTING LUPULINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 453,678, dated June 9,1891. Application filed July 25, 1890. .Serial No. 359,920. (No model.)

.To a/ZZ whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JACOB F. THEURER, of Milwaukee, in the county ofMilwaukee, and in the State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new anduseful Improvements in Apparatus for Extracting Lupuline; and I dohereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription thereof.

My invention relates to the extraction of flupuline or the bitterprinciple of hops, for use in the manufacture of beer and kindredbeverages; and my invention consists in certain peculiar and novelfeatures of construction and arrangement, as hereinafter` described, andpointed out in the appended claim. f

.ln order that my invention may be fully understood, I will proceed todescribe it with reference to the accompanying drawings, in Which-Figure l is a transverse vertical section of a lupuline-extractingapparatus constructed 'in accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is asimilar view of the air-inlet valve for the steeping-tank. Fig. 3 isasimilar View of the outlet-valve for said tank. Fig. 4 is a plan viewof the guiding-spider for the outletvalve.

The objects of my invention are to provide an apparatus which shallthoroughly and rapidly extract lupuline from hops, and the operation ofwhich shall be practically continuous and also inexpensive as comparedwith previous processes. These objects I attain by virtue of theconstruction which I will now proceed to describe.

In the drawings,A designates the steepingtank, which is an oblongcylindrical recepta cle, preferably extending a portion of. its lengththrough one of the iioors of a building,

'as indicated at in Fig. 1. The top B and bottom S of the tank areconical in cross-section and their apeXes extend outwardly, as shown.Above the true bottom S is placed a perforated false bottom O, ofsimilar shape to Vsaid bottom S and for a purpose to be hereinafterexplained. The top B is formed with -a feed-opening which is closed by adoor C, said door being designed to be tightly closed by any suitablelocking attachment. An air-inlet valve l is inclosed in a casing D,

and the latter is connected to the top B by a pipe 2, communicating withthe interior of the tank A. This valve is held upward against its seatin the upper part of the casing I) by a spring a, surrounding the upperend of the stem 8 of the valve, and the arrangement is such that whenthe contents of nthe tank are drawn olf, as hereinafter described, thevalve will open automatically and admit air into the tank. Asafety-valve E is also connected to the top of the tank and serves torelieve the tank of excessive steam-pressure F designates a verticalshaft, which extends centrally within the tank, and the lower end ofwhich is stepped into a bracket-bearing G at the bottom of the tank. Theupper part of this shafteXtends through a stufiing-box II in the top Bof the tank, and Works also through a journal in the upper partof 'abracket I, said bracket onframe being' supported upon the top B of thetank. Upon.

the upper end of this shaft F is keyed a beveled gear-wheel J, whichreceives power from any suitable source to revolve the shaft. This shaftF carries four oppositely-extending horizontal arms K K and L L',arranged in pairs, as shown, and bolted together at their inner ends, soas to closely embrace the shaft, as indicated at 4 5. The arms K Lextend from opposite sides of the shaft and carry each a number ofvertical arms or agitators b.

P P Q Q designate four horizontal braces or bars, which are arranged inpairs, the former P l intermediate of the arms K K' L L', and the latterQ'Q between the said arms L L and thebot'tom of the tank. The outer endsof these arms are bolted to the inner surface of thesides of the tank,as shown at G, and their inner ends are bolted together, so as tolooselysurround the shaft F, as indicated at 7. The braces P Q are atopposite sides of the shaft F and carry cross- -arms b as shown.

M M designate oppositely-extending arms or sweeps, the inner ends ofwhich are bolted tightly about the lower part of shaft F, and

which extend thence downward and then upward and outward above and closeto the upper surface of the perforated false bottom O. T designates anannulus, -which is located centrally of the bottom S, and to the underIOO 2 Ytsaar/a Y Y' f side of this annulus is connected the Upper end ofa bent outletror delivery pipe V. This annulus serves as the seat for anupwardlyopening outlet-valve U, the stem 9 of which works throughaguiding-spider e, located in saidY annulus, and extends downwardthrough a screw bearing in astuffing-boi; 10, which is attached to the`under side of the bend of the delivery-pipe V, and which may have ahand-wheel 12 to operate it.

It designates a steam-pipe, which is coiled horizontally in the lowerpart of the tank A, c being the inlet-valve and d the outlet-valve ofsaid coil. Y

X designates a cooling-tank, which is preferably located bel-ow thesteeping-tank A, and the top of this tank is connected by a pipe f withthe bottom S of said steeping-ta'nk, a valve ll being provided foropening and closing said pipe. A pipe h is coiled within thecooling-tank, and through this coil cold water is forced, preferablyupward. An outletvalve 14 is connected to the bottom of thiscooling-tank, and an air-inlet pipe 13, having a suitable valve fi, isconnected to the. top of said tank.

' into the tank.

The operation of the above-described apparatus is as follows: A quantityof hops (say one-half or one-third of the amount necessary for onebrewing) is placed in the steepingK tank A through the opening which iscovered by the door O, and after the door has been closed the properquantity of liquor is pumped The shaft F is now revolved so that theagitators and cross-bars will separate the hopleaves from their stemsand from each other. After this separation has been thoroughly effectedthe valve U is opened and the entire contents of the tank are run offthrough the pipe V into the beer-kettle. The valve U is now closed andthe remainder of the hops necessary to a brewing are placed in thesteeping-tank. After the first hops have boiled a sufficient length oftime the liquor in the beer-kettle is pumped into the steeping-tank.After again starting the shaft Fst-eamA is let into the coil R and thehops are thoroughly steeped, the door C being kept tightly closed. Theshaft F is now stopped and theF extract is strained off 5o through theperforated false bottom O and pipe f into the cooling-tank X. Moreliquor is now pumped into the steeping-tank` from the beeikettle, andthe shaft F is again revolved to thoroughly mix the hops and liquor,after which the mixture is run Aout through pipe V into the beer-kettleand boiled therein.

The extract in cooling-tank X is, after being cooled,.run off throughoutlet 14: into a tank, where the -remainder of the brewing may be addedto it, or it may be use-:l separately in any desired manner.

-Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new therein, anddesire to secure by Letters Pat-ent, is-

.An improved apparatus for extracting lupuline from hops, comprising asteeping-tank, a steam-coil in said steeping-tank, revolving agitatorswithin said tank, a perforated screen or false bottom in said tank,revolving scrap- 'er's or sweeps working over .said false bottom, adischarge-pipe in the bottom of said tank and a valve controlling thesame, a'coolingtank located below the steeping-tank and provided with acold-water coil, and a pipe leading to said cooling-tank from the lowerpart of said steeping-tank below the false bottom,

Vanda valvein said pipe, Substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand, atlVIil'v',fau.kee,A in the county of vMilwaukee and State of Wisconsin,in the presence of two witnesses.

JACOB F. THEURER- Witnesses:

H. G. UNDERWQOD, WM. Knus.

